Monthly Archive for January, 2016

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 18, at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania was cold, terribly cold. It was one for the Brandywine Peace Community record books. We thought that for anyone who could risk the cold, there needed to be something at the world’s chief war profiteer in honor of Dr. King’s message of nonviolent action and resistance for justice and peace. So as we have every year since 1977, we stood holding banners and signs for Dr. King and his message. About 20 people were there as the loudspeaker boomed the words of Dr. King. We had decided to cut our memorial with music and more in half.

On January 27, Mr. Kim Guk-Nam, a 50 year-old sea-diving activist living in Gangjeong village on Jeju, the Peace Island of Korea, turned himself in to jail after refusing to pay fines of 5 million KRW (about USD$5,000) for his protests against the navy base nearing completion there. At the rate of one day per 100,000 KRW, he will serve 50 days in prison.

On Thursday morning, January 28, thirty life sized cutouts of Syracuse peacemaker Jerry Berrigan blockaded the main entrance of Hancock Air National Guard Base outside Syracuse, NY. The cutouts were accompanied by twelve nonviolent drone resisters, who were arrested after blockading for an hour and a half. See video (of the blockade and arrests).

Jerry Berrigan, who died on July 26, 2015 at the age of 95, dedicated his entire life – like his brothers Dan and Phil – to Jesus’ command to love one another, Jerry came to the base on a bi-weekly basis whenever he was able, in his words, “to remind the base commander of our government’s pledge under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a treaty to safeguard non-combatant’s well-being in any warzone in which U.S. forces are engaged in combat.” And further, “to register horror and indignation at reports of bombing missions by drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan which resulted in the deaths of many innocent civilians; men, women and children.”

Jared Chase is the last member of the “NATO 3,” who remains in prison. Chase suffers from Huntington’s disease and faces additional charges for an alleged aggravated battery against a prison guard. He is set to go on trial in April. If convicted, there is a significant chance Chase could die in prison because of how his imprisonment has compounded the effects of this neurodegenerative disease.

What is the REAL State of the Union?
Drone Murder, Wars for Profit, Jailing Whistleblowers, No Jobs, Police Terror and more!

After 10 defendants were denied the right to put drone killing on trial, and their arraignment and charges were dismissed, they still showed up at the Sacramento Federal Courthouse on Tuesday, January 12 with about 2 dozen supporters. A very dramatic mock drone attack was staged with sound effects and “body parts” flying. Several mourning mothers gathered to dramatize the post-strike trauma, and the truth about drone killing: 9 of 10 killed are “unintended targets.”

Hammer of Justice statement from the Sarpy County Jail, Papillion, Nebraska, January 11, 2016

Hello, everyone!

Thank you to all who are carrying me with them in heart and mind while I do this time here in Sarpy County Jail. It is felt deeply.

My spirit is strong these days, and I attribute this to the kindness surrounding me. Mostly I am grateful just simply to be alive and well, swinging my hammer of justice at Northrop Grumman/STRATCOM (United Stated Strategic Command).

Ithaca, NY – On January 12, the National Day of Action to Stop Killer Drones, grandmother and drone resister Mary Anne Grady Flores learned that she is to go back to jail for six months starting Tuesday, January 19. She is to report to the Dewitt Town Court (5400 Butternut Drive, East Syracuse, NY) at 5 p.m. to be remanded to Jamesville Correctional Facility in East Syracuse, N.Y.

GROUP URGED PRESIDENT OBAMA TO DELIVER A REAL STATE OF THE UNION HIGHLIGHTING INCOME INEQUALITY, MILITARISM, RACISM AND CLIMATE CHAOS

from National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

On the afternoon of January 12, 2016, with President Obama’s last State of the Union address scheduled that evening, members and associates of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to express their vision for a just society.

A delegation asked a Capitol Police representative if their petition and a list of alleged U.S. war crimes could be delivered to the office of the Vice-President. The representative denied the request, but indicated he would grant a permit to demonstrate in an area away from the Capitol steps. He was informed that the demonstration was completed, and now the group wanted the petition to be delivered. Because the activists were being denied their First Amendment rights, they gathered on the lower steps holding a banner which read “STOP THE WAR MACHINE – EXPORT PEACE” and sang “WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED.” Thirteen of them were then arrested and charged with “incommoding and obstructing.”

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